Guide Dog Harness Attachment

Description:

This guide dog harness attachment was created as a group project in collaboration with The Seeing Eye, a guide dog organization in New Jersey. It was created to help guide dog users easily access a small retractable white cane in order to cross the street more safely.

As electric vehicles have become more common, crossing the street has become more dangerous for visually impaired people. When visually impaired people cross the street, they typically listen for cars to determine if it is safe to cross. However, that is not possible with electric cars, as they make very little noise. To help make crossing the street safer, our contact at The Seeing Eye asked us to create this cane sheath, which users can attach to their guide dog harness and easily access whenever necessary. The cane within the sheath would not be used as a mobility aid, it would only be used to signal to drivers that a visually impaired person is crossing the street. This is necessary because if a driver sees someone crossing with a guide dog, they might think it is just a person walking their dog, not a visually impaired person being guided. A white cane is a more universally recognized indicator that someone is visually impaired.

Created alongside the 3D printed roundabout. Click here to view the original project page.

Project Details:

• Cane is easy to remove and be put back quickly using one hand
• Sheath is attached to the harness using Fidlock magnets
• Sheath is easy to remove yet sturdy enough to not get knocked off accidentally
• Sheath casing was pre-made and came with the cane we prototyped with

My Responsibilities:

• Schedule meetings with our organization contact
• Receive/discuss feedback from our organization contact to assist in our iterative prototyping